Just a Taiwanese-American blogging about his travels outdoors and occasionally about his thoughts on life.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Climbing the Table Scraps at Mt. St. Helena in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, California, United States

Slightly north of the town Calistoga, within the confines of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, lies Mt. St. Helena. In this park, resides a multitude of routes for people to sport climb. On Saturday, me and some friends decided to focus all our efforts at Table Scraps.

The address for the park is: 4774-, 4824 Lake County Hwy, Calistoga, CA 94515.
The official website for the park is: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=472
Table Scraps routes: https://www.mountainproject.com/v/table-scraps-pinnacle/106543621

From San Francisco, around 8am, our group split into two cars and headed north. It took us roughly an hour and a half to reach the parking lot of Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. To get to Mt. St. Helena from the bay area, you must head north. If you drive directly north from San Francisco, you'll most likely take the 101 and then east on the 37 until the 29 into Calistoga. If you decide to cross the bay first, you'll jump on 80 west and then switch onto 12 which becomes 29.

The approach from the parking lot to Table Scraps is about 20-30 minutes. The crag provides very little protection from the sun. In the early morning/afternoon, one side of the crag provides shade, but it quickly disappears as the day continues. Be sure to bring plenty of water, I definitely underestimated how much water I needed and was miserable at the end of the day.

At times, I felt as though the problems were rated higher than they should be.

After a day of climbing, we made our way back to our cars and headed to dinner. For dinner, we stopped by La Prima Pizza, also in Calistoga. The food was decent and the service is good. I would probably rate the place 3/5 which is in line with what can be found on Yelp and Google reviews. Their address is: 1923 Lake St, Calistoga, CA 94515.

On the way back, I was so exhausted that I had to pull over at a Vista Point and take a nap. I could feel my eyes closing as I was driving. After a quick hour nap, I then made my way home in the south bay.